… This Egyptian capacity for tolerance and assimilation is now in doubt. Last year, the bank HSBC named Egypt the least foreigner-friendly of 37 countries surveyed, and the Deutsche Welle broadcast service reported on “the wave of xenophobia” against foreigners in Egypt. Protests, whether organized by Islamists or their opponents, it was said, often end with demonstrators ripping up photographs of President Obama and chanting anti-American slogans.
Have Egyptians succumbed to xenophobia?
… When Egypt has lapsed into xenophobia, it has always been because of the paranoia and aggression of dictators, not of the people. Many Egyptians feel that Western governments misunderstood their support for the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood government of President Mohamed Morsi, but they do not bear a grudge and they certainly have no hostility toward foreigners.
Egypt’s Fondness for Foreigners
by Alaa Al Aswany
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/15/opinion/alaa-al-aswany-egypts-fondness-for-foreigners.html
Xenophobia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophobia
Xenophobia is the unreasoned fear of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange. It comes from the Greek words ξένος (xenos), meaning “strange”, “foreigner”, and φόβος (phobos), meaning “fear”. Xenophobia can manifest itself in many ways involving the relations and perceptions of an ingroup towards an outgroup, including a fear of losing identity, suspicion of its activities, aggression, and desire to eliminate its presence to secure a presumed purity. Xenophobia can also be exhibited in the form of an “uncritical exaltation of another culture” in which a culture is ascribed “an unreal, stereotyped and exotic quality”. Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action urges all governments to take immediate measures and to develop strong policies to prevent and combat all forms and manifestations of racism, xenophobia or related intolerance, where necessary by enactment of appropriate legislation including penal measure.
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Xenophilia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophilia
Xenophily or xenophilia means an affection for unknown/foreign objects or peoples. It is the opposite of xenophobia or xenophoby. The word is a modern coinage from the Greek “xenos” (ξένος) (stranger, unknown, foreign) and “philia” (φιλία) (love, attraction), though the word itself is not found in classical Greek.